


News from a Safe Distance

by Gwynne



Category: Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold
Genre: F/M, Spoilers for CVA
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-15
Updated: 2012-09-15
Packaged: 2017-11-14 06:57:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/512553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gwynne/pseuds/Gwynne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For a Request by fajrdrako, Bujold Ficathon 2012</p><p>The reaction of Aral and Cordelia to news from home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	News from a Safe Distance

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by [fajrdrako](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fajrdrako/pseuds/fajrdrako) in the [Bujold_Ficathon_2012_CVA](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/Bujold_Ficathon_2012_CVA) collection. 



Cordelia surveyed the lunch table and decided that she was greedy. Not for the food, although it was very good indeed – it had to be, to disguise from Aral the fact that it was also healthy. No, it wasn’t the food. She glanced around – it was summer, and whenever they were able to have lunch together they used the table set up in the gardens, in the dappled shade from a stand of trees. Cordelia was greedy for open air, for gardens and sunlight and the lake. She loved Sergyar, the place where it all began, and now their quiet refuge from politics on Barrayar.

Right now she was also greedy for her lunch, and Aral was late again. She frowned as he hurried across the lawn towards her, trying to glare at the latecomer. But, as usual, the sheer joy of watching Aral move distracted her; he still reminded her of a wild animal, a bear or a panther maybe, she’d seen vids of them. She was still trying to decide as he slid into his seat.

“Busy today?” she tried to get the glare back. 

“Well…. Something unexpected came up.”

“Oh?” Cordelia started on her salad.

“Yes, you know the Kanzian has been delayed.”

“Caught up by Desplains in the fleet inspection, yes.”

“Well… it seems that Desplains decided to inspect it ahead of schedule. And found a rather impressive amount of property stolen from… from here. From Sergyar Fleet supplies.”

Cordelia leaned back in her chair and stared, “That’s not good.”

“Not good at all. Jole is absolutely livid. He’s tearing every ship in the fleet here apart, seeing what else is going on that he didn’t know about.”

“And I’ll bet Desplains is doing the same on Komarr. And interrogating the suspects, I suppose we’ll get more news about it soon.”

“Yes, but… there’s one more thing.” Aral nudged the salad aside and started on the meat on his plate, “It seems the tipoff came…. from Ivan.”

“Ivan? Our Ivan?”

“The same. He got the word from some ImpSec undercover agent, and practically ordered Desplains to hit the Kanzian, apparently. There’s more to come, but our Ivan would seem to be the hero of the piece.”

“Wonders will never cease.”

They nibbled on in happy appreciation of the food, the sunshine, and the thought of Ivan working with ImpSec.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

“More from Komarr?” Cordelia looked up as Aral leaned back from the comconsole.

“Yes, they’ve rounded up all the conspirators at that end. Jole’s picked up everyone at this end, I think. He’s still furious. But there’s more…”

“Mmmm?” 

“It’s Ivan.”

“What’s he done now? Taken over ImpSec? Been promoted to Admiral? Quit to go into politics?”

“He’s got married.”

Cordelia was speechless. Aral tried not to grin. Finally he took pity on her shocked state, “It seems… it’s a rather confused report from ImpSec, which is a bit worrying in itself. But apparently he’s got married to a young woman who is… they think….on the run from assassins from Jackson’s Whole. Her family used to run a House, and they lost out big time in a recent hostile takeover. She’s one of the few who escaped, there’s a price on her head, and Ivan… he’s married her. Some kind of rescue.”

“How… how chivalrous!”

“I’m sure it’s a mistake, or some kind of joke. We’ll get more information tomorrow.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

“She’s part WHAT! Doesn’t the boy know we fought a war with Cetaganda?”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

“Blue? How can a person be blue?”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

“Getting a divorce? But they just got married! Even Ivan can’t make a mess of things that fast, surely.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

“NOT getting divorced? I hope Falco knows what he’s doing.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

“What, ALL of them? Are they setting up a Jacksonian House on Barrayar? What’s Gregor doing about all this? What’s Alys doing, come to that?”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

“Miles arrives tomorrow to sort this Fleet problem out. He’ll have the latest news.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

“What’s Simon up to? And Ivan and this girl – how serious is it? Alys is being very coy about it all.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

“THEY SANK WHAT?”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

“I’ve never seen Gregor so… so almost incoherent before. I’m sure his next vid will make more sense.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

“Ivan arrives tomorrow. And her. I can’t wait to see them.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

“Well… that was an interesting visit. They seem to be perfect for each other.”

“Who would have thought that Ivan could do so well for himself?” Aral stretched out in bed and tapped the screen of his reader.

Cordelia took a moment to enjoy the view. “Ivan … he might be the smartest of us all. He’s managed to find just the right person, despite all the odds against them. And now he gets a couple of years of peace, a long way from Barrayar, while they get to know each other properly.”

“We got to know each other properly.”

“Yes, dear heart, but we did it through assassination attempts and civil wars. Ivan gets peace and quiet, and no relatives, for two whole years.”

“He’s smarter than he pretends to be, we’ve always known that.”

“Maybe he’s going to stop pretending.”

“Well, by the time he gets back he’ll be coming up towards his twenty. I can’t wait to see what he decides to do.”

Cordelia slid into bed, “Perhaps we’ll see the real Ivan at last. Oh, and I had a message from Barrayar – Alys and Simon are dropping by. Apparently they’ve decided that it’s a good time to take a holiday.”

“Good for them. I hope Gregor doesn’t miss them too much.”

“It must be pretty quiet back there now – at this rate there won’t be anyone left in Vorbarr Sultana soon.”

“Maybe it’s all a plot by Gregor to get some peace.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

The strangest ideas strike in the middle of the night…

“Aral…”

“Mmmm?”

“I just had the strangest dream… Ivan was the Barrayaran ambassador to Cetaganda.”

“Go back to sleep. It’ll never happen.”

“Are you sure?”

They both lay awake for a long time.


End file.
